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It’s tough for a (Baptist) pimp out there…

July 22, 2007

And my question: shouldn’t we stop trying to stuff the wide range of human sexuality into a narrow religious bottle, and instead try to find healthy ways to live with ourselves as we are?  The twisted, unhealthy outcome seems to derive as much from trying to be what we’re not, from hiding and denying and punishing, from applying shame to perfectly normal feelings and desires, as from anything about sexuality itself. 

Let me suggest a much narrower starting point for sexual morality: meaningful consent.  Then broaden it somewhat: consent of everyone involved (that is, no deceptions).  Two more things: recognition that individuals vary widely, and of autonomy (those not involved don’t get to decide).  What else?

Update:

Categories: observations
  1. July 24, 2007 at 06:57 | #1

    I think your four points are a sound basis for a rational sexual morality, DOF.  I made a very similar list on a forum a while back and it got almost no comment.  I wonder why that was? You’d think those principles were at least controversial in a society that too often ignores one or more of them.

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